Ben Folds, a man so downright great he’ll bear burdens like an ass, is musical director on William Shatner’s Has Been. He’s the right fellow to take the colostomy bagful of Singing Shat and search it for gold. On the scale of Singing Shat, Has Been ranks above the Shakespeare rap in Free Enterprise, but below “Mr. Tambourine Man,” where he first found much fool in himself, to the world’s pleasure and increase in laughter. Other reviewers have insisted it is Singing Shat’s best, furnishing praise like “the original William Hung, only with straight teeth” and ” ‘Has Been’ strives to make an ugly deed look fair.”
Notably accompanying Singing Shat is Henry Rollins, the man with wits in his belly and guts in his head, exhibiting it all for “I Can’t Get Behind That.” With Rollins and Folds, Garson Foos, leader of Shout, obviously has hopes Singing Shat will please fans of intelligent alternative rock, or at least idiot-worshippers to whom Bill is an idol.